raga

noun

ra·​ga ˈrä-gə 

1

: one of the ancient traditional melodic patterns or modes in Indian music

2

: an improvisation based on a traditional raga compare tala entry 1

Examples of raga in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Each raga has specific religious meanings in the Sikh scripture. —Yannick Peterhans, USA TODAY, 8 Aug. 2023

What is a raga? —Trudy Lieberman, Harper’s Magazine , 7 Dec. 2021

Onto the Voyagers’ golden record was placed music from every corner and pocket: a raga; a Pygmy song from Zaire; bagpipes from Azerbaijan — the works. —Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 20 Dec. 2021

Featuring other former members of John’s band, the resulting album combined free-form jazz with the textures of Indian raga and shades of Alice’s roots playing gospel in the churches of Detroit. —Rolling Stone, 30 Nov. 2021

His playing drew on country, jazz, blues, surf-rock and raga; his compositions almost always set up a contrapuntal dialogue of guitars with distinct tones, colluding or contending. —Jon Pareles, New York Times, 29 Jan. 2023

Widely considered one of the greatest guitarists in history, Mr. Beck shifted seamlessly between genres, recording albums that drew on hard rock, heavy metal, jazz fusion, blues, funk, electronic music and Indian raga. —Brian Murphy, Washington Post, 11 Jan. 2023

The 11-minute score, inspired by classic Indian music, begins like a raga finding its tones and shortly explodes like an orchestral supernova in a wash of microtones before returning to its quiet origins. —Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, 12 Aug. 2022

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Word History

Etymology

Sanskrit rāga, literally, color, tone; akin to Sanskrit rajyati it reddens, Greek rhezein to dye

First Known Use

1788, in the meaning defined at sense 1